6-0 victory in Saalfelden!

With a 6-0 victory against FC Pinzgau Saalfelden, the Violets overcame the first cup hurdle with ease. Dominik Fitz, Andi Gruber, Luca Pazourek and Tin Plavotic made everything clear before the break. After the break, Nik Prelec scored his first goal for the Violets and Muki Huskovic completed the scoring.

To conclude the first round of the UNIQA ÖFB Cup, the Violets traveled to Salzburg on Saturday to face FC Pinzgau Saalfelden, who finished fourth in the regional league last season. The home side's nice sports ground, surrounded by the rugged Alpine idyll, was already well filled a good hour before kick-off, and the groundsman and the weather gods had no objections to a good kick.

For the Violets, it was not just about the cup sausage, they also wanted to gain the necessary self-confidence after the 1:2 away defeat in Tampere to turn the tide next Wednesday (8:30 pm). Coach Stephan Helm opted for rotation for this double mission: Mirko Kos deputized for Samuel Sahin-Radlinger in goal and took over the captain's armband from Manfred Fischer, who, like Reini Ranftl, Muki Huskovic, Hakim Guenouche and Maurice Malone, had to make do with the bench at the start. Luca Pazourek, Matteo Perez Vinlöf and Moritz Wels pushed down the average age, while new signing Nik Prelec made his starting debut up front.

Fitz and Gruber work their magic

Austria had not arrived for a summer vacation. A game of patience was forbidden, the difference in class was immediately noticeable. Andi Gruber missed the first great opportunity when he shot from seven meters after Vinlöf's cross, forcing Hasanovic to save (3rd). Moritz Wels first missed from the sixteen (11) and then smashed the ball against the crossbar from a few meters after a spectacular Fitz solo (14), before our number 36 did it himself by wrapping up two defenders and calmly slotting the ball past the Salzburg goalkeeper for a 1-0 lead, predicate: “Oag!” (16.). Predicate: “Oag too!” followed on the foot. After a hair-raising mistake in Pinzgau's build-up play, Andi Gruber smashed the ball into the far corner from outside the penalty area (20').

From the halfway line onwards, the home side's creativity was mostly gone as the Violet defense was too humorless. Da Silva missed the only chance worth mentioning when he failed to beat Mirko Kos in a relatively free position (34'). Luca Pazourek made it 3-0 on the counter-attack after a Plavotic pass (36'), and Plavotic made it all clear after a poke (41').

Purple dominance fills half dozen

There was little change to the Violet dominance after the restart. Substitute Mandi Fischer slipped the ball over the instep (46'), Fitz missed a Vinlöf cross (48'), Pinzgau goalkeeper Hasanovic saved a Plavotic header (57'). After an hour, Nik Prelec was able to celebrate his first goal, slotting past Hasanovic to make it 5-0 (60'). And the Goliath would not be any kinder: After fine interplay between Cristiano and Wels, Muki Huskovic scored with a turning shot to make the final score 6-0 (77').

For the Violets, the trip to Salzburg was an all-round successful dress rehearsal for the Conference League qualifying second leg against Ilves Tampere (Wednesday, 8:30 pm). The draw for the 2nd Cup round will take place on Sunday evening on ORF.

FC Pinzgau Saalfelden - Austria Wien 0-6 (0-4)

Austria Wien: Kos; Potzmann (71. Ranftl), Plavotic, Meisl; Pazourek, Barry (46. Fischer), Wels, Perez Vinlöf; Fitz (60. Huskovic), Gruber (60. Cristiano), Prelec (60. Malone)

Saalfelden: Hasanovic; Da Silva, Ziege, Adjei; Moosmann; Masic (82. Demas), Zehentmayr (67. Hutter), Streitwieser, Colic; Entleitner (67. Kröll), Joao Pedro (79. Domagoj)

Goals: Fitz (16.), Gruber (20.), Pazourek (36.), Plavotic (41.), Prelec (60.), Huskovic (77.)

1508 SaalfeldenArena, referee Greinecker, 1,000 spectators